Grasslands 2018 conference to feature farmer panel

The panel session, for the Grasslands Society of Southern Australia’s annual conference, will comprise Travis Telford, Richie Kirkland, Kingsley Breeding and Tom Ellis Jnr.

It will be moderated by Mount Gambier based farm management consultant Rick Jordan who is also one of the owners of Gambier Seeds.

Mr Jordan said the session would follow the theme of the two-day conference, `Past + Future = Pasture’.

“The farmers will provide real-time examples of movement from the past to the present and explain where they see themselves in the short to medium term future,” he said.

The farmers have been chosen as leading examples of producers adopting and implementing new systems.

Mr Jordan said there was a lot of new tools and information people can use if they wish.

“You hop into a tractor today and it’s more like getting into the cockpit of an aircraft than tractors of years gone by,” he said.

“They’re shifted a long way in 20 years and it’s the same with forages and pastures.”

“If you engage some of the pasture species and forage crops of today, you need to understand what they require and deliver that to them. It’s not about how technical a system needs to be, but we need to recognise that change has occurred and there are more tools available today to optimise performance within your individual systems.”

The panel of farmers come from a range of enterprises and farming systems.

Each speaker will be asked about changes in the forage and pasture systems used on their farming operations, what ‘tools’ they use to optimise performance, what lessons they have learnt along the way and what changes they see themselves making in the future.

Event organiser and president of the Limestone Coast Grassland Society branch, Meg Bell, said more than 200 people were expected to attend the conference at the Millicent Civic and Arts centre next Wednesday and Thursday.